Valued in folklore medicine for centuries as an herbal treatment for fever and headache, topical skin care products containing feverfew can help in reducing the appearance of facial redness and skin irritation. Purified Feverfew Extract delivers high antioxidant and anti-irritant benefits. When applied topically, these formulations significantly reduce the appearance of redness and irritation.
Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc. sources feverfew from non-GMO plants grown in the states of Washington and Oregon in the U.S. under the care of professional agricultural farmers. The farms where feverfew is cultivated are set in the Trout valley, irrigated by the White Salmon River, fed by the glaciers on Mount Adams in Washington state. This location provides a temperate climate, rich soils and isolation from urban pollution, making it ideal to grow feverfew. The fields of feverfew are certified free of pesticides. Farmers use natural, environmentally- friendly methods to control weeds, insects and other predators.
The feverfew plants are harvested/cut during a specific 3-day window to ensure maximum concentration in actives. Fresh feverfew (tanacetum Parthenium) aerial parts are harvested at full bloom stage. Care is taken to preserve the natural moisture content of fresh feverfew and to avoid or minimize chopping, mashing, and crushing of the collected fresh feverfew.
All steps are completed in the shortest possible period of time. This is done to minimize exposure of the fresh feverfew to sun, high temperature, and other negative environmental factors.
A washing step is performed to remove soil particles and other debris from the plants prior to processing. The excess water is removed from the washed feverfew. The plants are then juiced in the fields within 1 hour of harvesting to maximize freshness and optimal concentration in actives. The washed feverfew undergoes grinding, maceration, and pressing to obtain the plant “juice” and to separate it from plant fibers. This process is rigorously controlled to minimize the temperature increase and to insure the appropriate separation of the juice from the fibers. At this point the juice is frozen prior to transportation and further processing.
The process by which the parthenolides are removed from feverfew involves a solvent-free fractionation process that uses only the water present in the feverfew plant as a vehicle, no additional water or solvents are added. The process avoids drying and solvent treatment, which can denature the active phytochemicals in feverfew.
A proprietary process involving continuous flow centrifugation isolates specific plant fractions yielding higher purity extracts free of chloroplasts, mitochondria, and pollen particles.
Purified Feverfew Extract (PFE) is a water extract from Tanacetum Parthenium. It is enriched in water hydrophillic flavonoids: (Apigenin 7-glucuronide, Apigenin 7-diglucuronide, Apigenin 7-glucosylglucuronide, Luteolin 7-glucuronide, Luteolin 7-glucoside, Chrysoeriol 7-glucuronide). Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc. scientists have demonstrated that the Purified Feverfew Extract has highly effective anti-irritant and antioxidant activity to help protect skin from the numerous environmental aggressors that challenge skin daily.
Botanical extracts such as feverfew can have inherent odor and color that impact the finished product aesthetics. Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc. scientists have been able to chemically identify bioactive components of the feverfew plant and separate that fraction to minimize potential odor and color. This refinement permits Purified Feverfew Extract to be formulated without added fragrances. Feverfew also requires a careful handling to assure that the activity of the extract is delivered to the skin.
A controlled, full-face, monadic study was performed to assess the facial tolerance of a Feverfew (Purified Feverfew Extract) containing daily moisturizer regimen vs baseline over a four-week period in females with dry, sensitive skin. Subjects applied each moisturizer daily to the entire face for four weeks:
Evaluations were conducted at baseline and at weeks 1, 2, and 4. These included:
The facial moisturizing regimen with Feverfew (Purified Feverfew Extract) was found to be mild, very well tolerated, and also led to visual and sensorial improvements in the skin.
Ten Feverfew (Purified Feverfew Extract) formulations were topically evaluated in the Human Repeat Insult Patch Test. Each panel size was approximately 200 subjects in this topical test. There was no induction of dermal sensitization in any of the topical HRIPT tests with these Feverfew (Purified Feverfew Extract) formulations.
